Meet the Gill-Man (Again)

Great things happen when horror aficionados get together. When horror writer, Steve Niles, befriended make-up artist, William Forsche, via Facebook, they realized they shared a love of classic movie monsters and monster make-up. To cement the relationship, Mr. Forsche sent Mr. Niles three discs with thousands of rare, big reference monster photos from his personal collection. Being an extra generous human being, Mr. Forsche allowed Steve to share these images on his Tumblr page, concisely titled, Steve Niles Tumblr.

Many of these images I’ve rarely seen (occasionally coming across one in a horror forum), and some of them I’ve never seen. Because of the rarity of these photos (covering the gamut of horror films from Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera, through the Universal horror classics, to Ridley Scott’s Alien), I thought my readers may be interested in seeing them, too. Steve Niles has been publishing the collection daily, up to the daily Tumblr limit. It’s an absolute wealth of material, and Steve promises he has barely scratched the surface. However, I’ve decided to post some of the shots from The Creature movies (Creature from the Black Lagoon, Revenge of the Creature, and The Creature Walks Among Us) as I have a personal fondness for the Gill-Man, and I know many of you love these films as well.

Now, enough words and onto the pictures:

An assortment of potential Gill-Man masks.

First Gill-Man head. A more sleek design - never used.

Another view of the first Gill-Man head - never used.

Gill-Man with the original Gill-Man head. Also note the odd split chest piece. Actors Julie Adams and Richard Carlson standing off to the side. Obviously not the towering Ben Chapman (who played the Creature on land) in the suit.

Gill-Man with the now familiar head designed by Milicent Patrick. Still, the odd split chest piece, and Richard Carlson and Julie Adams standing to either side.

The Creature poses near a tree. The classic Gill-Man head, but the unfamiliar split-chested suit.

The Creature in all his glory.

More Gill-Man glory.

The Gill-Man, Julie Adams, and Richard Carlson. I love all three of them!

Gorgeous Milicent Patrick, designer of the Creature, clowns around. Ms. Patrick also served as eye dressing in many television programs and feature films.

That’s it for now, but be sure to check out Steve Niles Tumblr for more images, including images from The Creature Walks Among Us, which I’ve neglected here. Also, give a murmur of gratitude to William Forsche, who allowed Steve to share these images with the world. Lord knows that I appreciate it!

Even though I’m not a big Creature fan, these photos are fantastic, especially the pictures of the gill-man suit that never made it in the film. Went to Steve’s web page and…well…WOW! Starts off with a publicity still for The Wolf Man and continues with photos of Karloff with makeup geniuses Jack Pierce and even features a behind the scenes picture of the great Chaney Sr. The scariest makeup, though, was Brando as the Godfather. Just kidding. Can’t wait until I have more time to look through the rest of these treasures.

Hi Paul! I love the Jack Pierce behind the scenes pictures, too. I’m thinking about highlighting some of the Pierce photos next.

What’s really impressive is the quality of the photographs. Be sure to keep clicking them until they’re at their maximum size and you’ll see details you’ve never noticed before! This is true of even some of the photos we’ve seen before.Truly great stuff.